International Friendly 2018/19: USMNT v Panama

January friendlies are not normally the type of matches that get a lot of attention, especially in terms of Concacaf teams. Sunday’s matchup featured the first United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) game under Gregg Berhalter against Panama. The majority of each squads top players were still honouring their European club commitments, so the level of talent was not on full display. Despite these situations, there was a lot of intrigue surrounding the match due to the arrival of Berhalter.

The United States set up in a 4-2-3-1, which looked much more like a 3-5-2 in possession. Panama lined up in a 4-5-1 defensively and did not look eager to press much throughout the game. Panama’s lack of ambition to press forced Berhalter to try and break down an extremely low block.

Game summary

As with most January friendlies the game was extremely choppy with very few passes being strung together. The first 20 minutes could be categorised by players on both squads being extremely uncertain of positioning and movement. Panama were actually able to find some spaces going forward due the positioning miscues of the USMNT. As can be shown below they found some spaces out wide for crosses throughout the first half, but never created any real threatening opportunities.

The beginning of the match saw Berhalters team showing similar characteristics to his Columbus Crew outfit, but they just werent as sharp. The wingers tried to find space cutting inside. Although this lead to a narrow shape, it allowed for some attempted combination play. It also saw Michael Bradley a little bit higher up the field instead of dropping purely as the deep pivot.